Herodian's Roman
History

Herodian
(late second, first half third century): Greek historian, author of a History
of the Roman Empire since the Death of Marcus Aurelius (table
of contents) in which he describes the reign of
Commodus (180-192), the Year of the Five Emperors (193), the age of the
Severan dynasty (211-235),
and the Year of the Six Emperors (238).

The translation was made by Edward C. Echols (Herodian of Antioch's History of
the Roman Empire, 1961 Berkeley and Los Angeles) and was
put online for the
first time by Roger Pearse (Tertullian.Org).
The version offered on these pages is hyperlinked and contains notes by
Jona Lendering.

8.8: Accession of Gordian III

[May 238]For the rest of the time the two
emperors governed in an orderly and well-regulated manner, winning
approval on every hand both privately and publicly. The people honored
and respected them as patriotic and admirable rulers of the empire. The
praetorians, however, were privately disgruntled, not at all pleased
that the people had demonstrated their approval of the
emperors. The noble birth of the two men was an affront to the
praetorians, and they were indignant also because the emperors had
received the imperial
office from the Senate.

The
praetorians feared that the German troops with [Pupienus]Maximus in Rome would
oppose them if they should instigate a revolt. They suspected that the
Germans were lying in wait for them; if the praetorians were discharged
from service by trickery, the Germans would be at hand to replace them
as the imperial bodyguard. They recalled the example of Severus, who
dismissed the praetorians who had killed Pertinax.

When the Capitoline
Games were drawing to an end and all the people were occupied with
festivals and shows, the praetorians suddenly brought their hidden
resentments into the open. Making no attempt to control their anger,
they launched an unreasoning assault; rushing into the palace
with one purpose, they approached the aged emperors.

It
so happened that the two men were not in complete accord: so great is
the desire for sole rule and so contrary to the usual practice is it
for the sovereignty to be shared that each undertook to secure the
imperial power for himself alone. Balbinus considered himself the more
worthy because of his noble birth and his two terms as consul; Maximus
felt that he deserved first place because he had served as prefect of
Rome and had won a good reputation by his administrative efforts. Both
men were led to covet the sole rule because of their distinguished
birth, aristocratic lineage, and the size of their
families.

This
rivalry was the basis of their downfall. When Maximus learned that the
Praetorian Guard was coming to kill them, he wished to summon a
sufficient number of the German auxiliaries who were in Rome to resist
the conspirators. But Balbinus, thinking that this was a ruse intended
to deceive him (he knew that the Germans were devoted to Maximus),
refused to allow Maximus to issue the order, believing that the Germans
were coming not to put down a praetorian uprising but to secure the empire for Maximus alone.

While the two men were
arguing, the praetorians rushed in with a single purpose. When the
guards at the palace gates deserted the emperors, the praetorians
seized the old men and ripped off the plain robes they were wearing
because they were at home. Dragging the two men naked from the palace,
they inflicted every insult and indignity upon them. Jeering at these
emperors elected by the senate, they beat and tortured them, pulling
their beards and eyebrows and doing them every kind of physical
outrage. They then brought the emperors through the middle of the city
to the praetorian camp, unwilling to kill them in the palace; they
preferred to torture them first, so that they might suffer longer.

When the Germans
learned what was happening,
they snatched up their arms and hastened to the rescue. As soon as the
praetorians were informed of their approach, they killed the mutilated
emperors. Leaving the corpses exposed in the street, the praetorians
took up Gordian Caesar and proclaimed him emperor, since at the moment
they could find no other candidate for the office. Proclaiming that
they had only killed the men whom the people did not want to rule them
in the first place, they chose as emperor this Gordian who was
descended from the Gordian whom the Romans themselves had forced to
accept the rule. Keeping their emperor Gordian with them, they went off
to the praetorian camp, where they shut the gates and remained quiet.
Learning that the men they were hurrying to rescue had been killed and
their bodies exposed, the Germans returned to their quarters, unwilling
to fight fruitlessly for men already dead.

Such was the
undeserved and impious fate suffered by these two respected and
distinguished elder statesmen, nobly born men deservedly elevated to
the imperial throne. Gordian, at the age of about thirteen, was
designated emperor and assumed the burden of the Roman empire.